Singer

Scotland, seventeenth century. Henri Ashton explains to his confidant Gilbert that, for political reasons, he has decided to marry his sister Lucie to Arthur Bucklaw, the powerful Lord Athold’s nephew. However, Lucie is in love with Edgar Ravenswood, the last member of the Ashtons’ rival family. Gilbert informs Henri of a secret rendezvous between Lucie and Edgar. Then comes Arthur, and he is reassured by Henri about Lucie’s love for him. In any case, Arthur says, his uncle has ordered Edgar to go to France on a diplomatic mission. Pretending to be her friend, Gilbert accompanies Lucie to the place where she is to meet Edgar. While she waits for him, Lucie laments that the old hatred between the two families makes their love impossible. Edgar arrives bearing the sad news that is about to leave. But, before that, he asks Henri for his sister’s hand. The two lovers exchange rings and bid farewell.

Lucie de Lammermoor

Gaetano Donizetti Theater

In the 1860s, Ambroise Thomas was among those composers who, like Verdi with Macbeth and Gounod with Roméo et Juliette, chose to bring a Shakespeare play to the opera stage. He selected Hamlet, the most famous and also the most philosophical. In the version crafted by librettists Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, the Prince of Denmark loses some of his metaphysical dimension, which is offset by a score full of vivid detail, even featuring two saxophone solos.

Hamlet

Opéra Bastille

Jusqu’ici, il fallait bien croire Hector Berlioz, qui affirmait avoir détruit cette messe composée à 21 ans, jouée pour la première fois à l’église Saint-Roch. Mais en 1992, par le plus grand hasard, un instituteur en retrouva un manuscrit à Anvers. On allait alors découvrir, dans cette partition généreuse, les signes avant-coureurs du révolutionnaire et les traces des futurs Requiem, Symphonie fantastique et autre Benvenuto Cellini. De vingt ans postérieure, la Troisième Symphonie de Louise Farrenc résume un artisanat et une science des proportions qui lui valurent l’admiration de Schumann… et de Berlioz.

Berlioz, Messe solennelle / Dinis Sousa

Maison de la Radio et de la Musique

From its request by a dark stranger to its gruelling creation on the composer’s deathbed, Mozart’s Requiem is a piece haunted by mysteries. It’s also an awe-inspiring contemplation of life’s profoundest questions, conveyed through music of enormous courage and compassion, beauty and power.

Mozart Requiem

Usher Hall

City Halls

With the death of Benjamin Britten on December 4, 1976, the music world lost one of the most important composers of the 20th century. Only shortly before his passing had the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt gained "an impression of the rare purity of his music." Overwhelmed by the "magnitude of such a loss," Pärt wrote his Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten in 1977 as a homage to the deceased artist, but also as a meditation on death. The bell tone at the end of the six-minute work fades into a tense silence, out of which the opening bars of Mozart's Requiem emerge. It remained unfinished after his death on December 5, 1791, thus making him a myth. Mozart: lux æterna.

Mozart Requiem on Mozart's death anniversary

Mozarteum Foundation

Ambroise Thomas, composer of the successful operas Mignon and Hamlet , was one of the central figures of 19th - century French opera. Yet, much of his work remains unknown. This gala offers the opportunity to rediscover it: ten operas will be performed, from absolute rarities to more familiar pieces, all in one evening.

EPSG:4326

Gala Ambroise Thomas

Le Corum

One glance is all it takes for Romeo and Juliet to fall in love. But their passion collides with the ancestral hatred dividing their families in a Verona on the brink of implosion.

Although Charles Gounod had been attracted to Shakespeare’s play from a young age, it was only some twenty years later, after the success of Faust, that he set about transforming it into an opera.

Tenor

Julien Henric

Events

Upcoming events

Apr 2, 2027

Gala Ambroise Thomas · Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier

Jun 7 - Jul 10, 2027

Roméo et Juliette · Opéra national de Paris

Past events

Sep 20, 2026

Lucie de Lammermoor · Fondazione Teatro Donizetti

Sep 18 - Oct 9, 2026

Hamlet · Opéra national de Paris

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in Requiem by Mozart

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Singer in Symphony No. 3 by Farrenc

Orchestre National de France

Laërte in Hamlet by Thomas

Opéra national de Paris

Singer in Missa in tempore belli by Haydn

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Lord Arthur Bucklaw in Lucie de Lammermoor by Donizetti

Fondazione Teatro Donizetti

Singer in Solemn Mass by Berlioz

Orchestre National de France

Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette by Gounod

Opéra national de Paris

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